Hrishikesh Mukherjee's classic Chupke Chupke clocked 50 years recently. To celebrate the occasion, Sharmila Tagore reminisced the shooting days in an interview with Subhash K Jha. Before taking up the Chupke Chupke offer, Sharmila Tagore had worked in the director's serious films (Anupama and Satyakam). Sharmila Tagore didn't think twice when the offer of a such fun fun film came her way.
"We had a lot of fun shooting that one. I had done a lot of work with Hrishida before Chupke Chupke, but of a very serious nature, like Anupama and Satyakam, which were both with Dharamji (Dharmendra). These are not easy-viewing cinema. In one (Anupama) I hardly spoke. So when Hrishida offered to do a fun film, we all jumped at it."
Giving the full credit to the director, Sharmila Tagore shared Chupke Chupke worked because of Hrishikesh Mukherjee.
"Hrishida knew exactly what he wanted us actors to do. We just did what he told us. I think all of us - me, Dharamji, Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan), Jaya (Jaya Bachchan), Om Prakashji, Asraniji, Usha Kironji, we were in it for the fun. In fact Amit and Jaya had very little to do. But they joined in the fun for Hrishida's sake," recalled the film veteran.
Chupke Chupke features an ensemble cast including Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Om Prakash, and Asrani. The story was inspired from Shakespeare's The Comedy Of Errors. Sharmila Tagore has, recently, made a comeback to the Bengali cinema with Puratawn after 14 years. In the film, she shared screen space with Rituparna Sengupta and Indraneil Sengupta.